I know this book contains essays and therefore opinion, but the Cultural Revolution Era section in the vein of wordsmithing contains some 'logicsmithing.'
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Such as "It may be tempting to view the Cultural Revolution as a lost decade for China's development, but China enjoyed much greater international opportunities after the Cultural Revolution than before." OK so what about **during**? So if China wants to enjoy greater economic opportunities 10 years from now they should enter a Cultural Revolution II ???
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And "life expectancy, which increased from only 35 in 1949, to 65 in 1980." OK, so what about **during**? Are you assuming the reader will just assume a linear growth line?
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And another "The Cultural Revolution initially halted economic growth in 1966....The 1968 restoration of Party authority and the dispersal of the Red Guards led to two years of extraordinary growth;" Well of course if you go from 0.01% growth to 1% growth that can be looked at as 100% growth. Extraordinary!
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Statements like these make the section writer look like an apologist, and it's really annoying. The writer as far as I can tell is an academic, would he want to live in that era?
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